As a total geek about Earth’s historical Bronze Age, when I heard about Mythic Babylon‘s launch back in 2021 I knew I’d want to pick it up. The book’s languished on my kink shelf, but it finally reached the top of my reading stack.

Published by Design Mechanism for their D100 system Mythras, Mythic Babylon provides a comprehensive point of entry for those interested in playing Mesopotamian campaigns during the reign of Hammurabi. Although you’ll need a copy of their core rules to play Mythic Babylon, the book should be pretty usable with your choice of system.

My own experience of Mythic Babylon was firmly as an armchair read; I haven’t had an opportunity to take it for a test drive.

The immediate sense I got when I started reading is that Mythic Babylon is focused on setting. Opening with a hundred pages on life in the cities of Sumer & Akkad, agriculture, economics, religion, and culture, and littered with sidebars quoting ancient texts—such as the famous Code of Hammurabi—it’s crystal clear that Mythic Babylon‘s objective is to evoke its setting for the reader. While it is a game, and does have “gaming” content, it feels clear to me that the authors’ passion was for describing the ancient world.

And they do so phenomenally well. I read a lot of history, and honestly this is one of the better survey texts I’ve read on the period. In particular I love how—because Mythic Babylon is a game—the book really puts into context all the different places and cultural customs and historical figures, and how they’re interacting. Most histories divide up the material to focus in greater detail on particular aspects. For example, my Routledge survey text on the Sumerians is deliciously detailed, but is so precise (or alternately unwilling to commit, a reasonable rhetorical stance in academia) that it’s hard to get a holistic picture. In contrast Mythic Babylon provides immediate details about a number of places and people because, well, you need to know what the hell’s going on if you’re gonna play a game!

As an aside, the Routledge text on the Babylonians is also really good, if you want a deeper historical dive.

Overall the prose is a little dry, when compared to the gaming field, but it’s downright poetic compared to most modern histories. It might have been appropriate to add a bit more “pizazz” when discussing the magic in the setting, because the fantastical does get overshadowed by the historical.

In a similar vein, at times I felt like the gameplay elements seemed to play second fiddle to the setting. This might also come down to a Mythras stylistic choice, as I’ve found other campaign settings for Mythras (such as Shores of Korantia) a bit dry. There’s also a personal element, because I am someone who likes big splashy overt magic, and Mythic Babylon feels more “low” fantasy. There is overt magic wielded by priests and sorcerers, but the general feel is more subdued, more subtle. It does so to focus on a historical experience with a dash of magic, and I can’t help but wonder how the game would feel playing “the myths of the Babylonians” in comparison to “the world as the Babylonians believed it.” A bit more organization or structure to the magic—specialization based on deity, or city—could have been interesting, too.

I do really like the setting’s emphasis on divination, and on the Purity skill. This is a D100 rating which describes a character’s relation to the divine order, and impacts your ability to wield magic, be socially accepted, and so on. For example, if you’re under 40%, you need to roll Willpower if you want to enter a temple. Hit 0%, and you turn into a demon—effectively, an alternate method of character death. Because of how vivid the setting is, Purity is one of the more effective “morality” mechanics I’ve seen in a game. It looks to impact player behavior quite strongly, providing firm reasons to make choices in-character as an ancient Akkadian.

The last third of the book is more gamemaster-facing, with the geography of Mesopotamia, a bestiary, and tools for running campaigns in Mythic Babylon.

Like the setting, the geography’s a little dry, but generally well-written. Here, the dryness came from repetition, consuming the foreign names of several temples and local divinities with each city described in the gazetteer. Maps are also provided of many cities, although these are often only partially useful. The mapping style is archaeological. It highlights a few specific places which have been excavated, with detail a bit too small to see well.

In contrast the gazetteer entries are often quite good, with both overt plot seeds, and noted conflicts between cities or individuals which could bedevil players. And again, this is a place where the authors’ breadth of knowledge shines. They could have just written up Sumer & Akkad, but instead we have Elam and the Levant, and mentions of further afield both up north and south into the Persian Gulf. It really brings a picture together of the whole Mesopotamian region, and its neighbors, for adventure.

I like the bestiary’s diversity of monsters, but I couldn’t help but feel that some seemed a little too easily killable. Of course, I don’t know Mythras well, and I’m comparing them to RuneQuest’s gonzo fantasy monsters with 10-20 points of armor, so there’s every chance I just don’t have the tools to evaluate this part of the book.

The gamemaster’s chapters are solid, and provide real advice and interesting ideas for both campaigns and scenarios. The authors make sure to remind the gamemaster to “start small” (important with any unusual setting), and the plethora of scenario ideas provides good support for introducing cultural elements piecemeal. For example, having an adventure during ilkum duty, and then another introducing the city’s assembly needing help negotiating with the king.

Mythic Babylon is modestly illustrated with black & white drawings of varying quality. I wouldn’t say any are atrocious, but there’s not many which felt spectacular, either. I do quite like that most are captioned, to help with reader clarity. The illustrations successfully bring the setting to life, and help give an idea of what the world looks and feels like. They didn’t “wow” me, but they did their job.

The cover, though, is awesome. In hindsight, I think the cover did impact my expectation for “big, over-the-top mythic action” in the text.

Can you blame me?

That said… there’s no color interior illustrations, but the book’s interiors and graphic design are still in color. With the cost of illustration in a book this size black and white absolutely makes sense—I ain’t knocking the choice of art—but surely it would have been better to create the book in black & white instead? Looking at DriveThruRPG’s storefront, it kind of baffles me that there’s a premium color edition. Like… why? There’s no illustrations in the book that call for it, that I saw. Just a bit of graphic design.

For me, Mythic Babylon was solidly an armchair book. It’s not likely I’ll ever get to play it directly with a group, and that’s OK. I certainly feel there’s lots of ideas I can mine from this, plus I do just love the period. I definitely feel I got my money’s worth, as a customer.

That said, I think it’s worth asking myself if I feel confident about my ability to bring Mythic Babylon to the table, as a gamemaster.

While I don’t feel “confident,” I also don’t feel “apprehensive.” I think it would be a bit tricky to bring as a new setting, but there are pretty good tools in the book. A starter adventure—not in this book, it’s already super long—somewhere would be helpful, probably. Getting an idea of how the authors “expect” a game to go. Alternatively, maybe focusing on one corner of the setting as “home” would have helped. The authors recommend starting small, but many of the central powers and places have similar levels of detail.

Overall, it’s a pretty good book. I do think that if you’re interested in games set in ancient Babylon with any system, you should pick this up. It’s a great book for history geeks, and a really solid introduction to the topic. The setting material is pretty system-agnostic, giving gamemasters interested in non-Mythras (or even non-D100) games still plenty of reason to use Mythic Babylon.

This review was originally published on my website, akhelas.com.

Mythras does a wonderful job of creating what I call a "life simulator" without going too wonky on the crunch level. I prefer more realistic game mechanics that, IMHO, allow for a more immersive roleplaying session. Fluffy games are not ny thing, but having been a longtime fan of Rolemaster - I do realize that going too crunchy can slow things down and hamper game sessions. Mythras is a great system for handling traditional fantasy settings and I believe it's mechanics could easily be adopted to any class of RPG. There is one future adaptation that I know of called M-Space and its... okay. Mythras sets the base, now I just hope to see some motivated game designer(s) adapt the systems combat to better handle modern to futuristic weaponry. As a gun enthusist, the current offerings fail big time.

I've been playing TTRPGs since the 80's. I've had hundreds of rulebooks, modules, campaigns, settings, and other RPG esoterica. I have NEVER had a book that is as good as this one.

I absolutely love, love, love this book. I told all the friends in my gaming group that this reads like the history book that you desperately wish you'd had in highschool or college - plus it adds in all the mechanics that you need to bring this setting to life in your Mythras game. The level of scholarship and care that went into this product are exceptional. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed elements like sprinkling relevant excerpts of the Code of Hammurabi throughout the book to add even more flavor to the already super-detailed discussion of the cultures in play.

I've gone through my PDF and marked it up like a textbook. I'm super excited to get my hands on the hardcover that I've order and add it to my bookshelf.

Based on the quality of this book alone I'm planning to pick up every Mythical XXX book that The Design Mechanism publishes.

Well, the rules expansions you get in this book are amazing, but what people care about is the accuracy of the text. If the book was "Mythic Polynesia Sans Maori" it would be well-researched and we wouldn't have a problem. The author didn't delve into how divergent the Maori are from other Polynesians and as a result, the Maori sections are inadequate. As far as the Moriori go (which is what people are talking about when they say "outdated sources that perpetuate...etc) the author did follow a source that modern science has proven incorrect.

So if you're looking for a well-researched and amazing supplement about Polynesia (without New Zealand) with new systems for weather, navigating, sailing, surfing, new weapon styles and martial art schools, new spirits and monsters...this is the book you're looking for.

If you want the same thing from a NZ/Maori perspective, this version of the book is not it.

Definitely a 5, dropped to a 4 because of the New Zealand issues.

Mythic Polynesia presens a world it claims is Mythic, a fantasy. There are some elements here which seem to be well researched and but the hubris of the author, who haughtily claimed he didnt need to consult cultural sensitivity readers or Indigenous sources led him to make the mistake of including statements that are outdated and propogate white supremacy (the presentation of Moriori in the book for reference) in addition to taking the step to include "racial stat bonuses", something uneccessary amd unseen in tue Mythic Earth line.

So for all the potential for this bool to fill a void in Polynesian gaming content, it falls flat on its face for perpetuating a kind of gaming product that belongs with Oriental Adventures in howit handles matters of Culture. If this was a world of fantasy and Mythic, then the inclusion ofnreal world cultures and real world raciat points of view is an odd one.

to date no supporters of this book seem to want to engagw with that statement, instead resting back on leather elbow patches and decrying wokeness onstead of engaging with tue topic in any meanignful, intelligent or good faith manner.

It is a shame as we engage with our hobby in the 21st Century that so many want to remain in the previous one, this books author included.

Another fantastic release from The Design Mechanism. Mythic Polynesia is very well written and is crammed full great info'.

Another great Mythras adventure. Very well done: generic enough to be inserted in a modern campaign, but laden with all the bells and whistles that bring this suspenseful dive into a Soviet Drift Station alive. Highly recommended.

Wow--this set of linked adventures for the Luther Arkwright Mythras campaign setting exceeded expectations! Excellently written, and the pacing is spot on. NPC's, scenarios, all 100% in tune with the tone and themes of the Luther Arkwright comics, with a healthy dose of Moorcock imho. If you look Luther Arkwright, Michael Moorcock, or just well-crafted RPG adventures this is a winner. Highly recommended.

This is a fantastic campaign setting for Mythras. I especially enjoyed the various Animism and the Mystic and Sorcery Schools provided, all consistent with the fantasy Mediterranean settings. You can really see the potential and flexibility of the Mythras ruleset on display here. My only criticism: even a small set of adventures would be a great addition. I find, with these sorts of campaign settings, that a sample adventure or two can really flesh out how the elements of the campaign setting can be used (for example see the excellent Luther Arkwright: Parallel Lines adventure supplement).

A historical sourcebook that uses out-of-date sources, and perpetuates racist narratives that have been historically debunked. Not a good look for a company and line that has previously taken pride in its academic research.

It is also not good enough to claim this is just a fantasy book and not to be taken seriously as a historical book. The cultures and geography being depicted are from the real world and being an entertainment does not exempt a product from racist content.

Not good enough, Design Mechanism.

Mythic Polynesia is a great source book for any GM looking to run a Paleo-Fantasy game. While the fantastical version of Polynesia presented works very well as a setting in itself, the source book could also be used to create a homebrew campaign set on an archipelago or near a major coastline, or with a major ocean influence.

The rules for ocean travel are comprehensive and every conceivable condition and encounter, mundane or supernatural is covered to some degree from bad weather, ocean monsters and jellyfish swarms. And this is to say nothing about rules for building and repair of boats and ships.

The “gazetteer” chapter features literally dozens (I think well over a hundred) different locations each evocatively described. It also includes a detailed and compelling breakdown of the people of this fantastical setting along with their culture, society and politics.

The world presented is not historical and as such there is a detailed section as to how magic works in this setting both from a lore and a mechanical point of view. Additionally, there is a bestiary that adds new creatures including Demon-Kings, shark-men and numerous ocean and forest monsters. That said the bestiary does work as a complementary addition to more comprehensive volumes such as the Mythras Core Rule Book and/or Monster Island by The Design Mechanism.

There is a section about potential campaigns, along with adventure hooks scattered throughout the sourcebook along with an introductory scenario. The artwork in the book is pretty good but is quite sparse. However, there are 12 pages of fully coloured beautifully drawn maps of the locations at the back of the book.

This book should be bought by any GM looking to run Paleo-Fantasy game particularly in or near an ocean environment.

The book Mythic Polynesia, (which features a forest monster being attacked with magic on the cover), should probably be avoided if you are looking for an educational book to learn about real-life Polynesia.

Mythras is one of the best RPG toolsets you will ever get. Versatile enough to simulate adequately almost any kind of game: Mythic and Historic Earth, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Grim and Gritty, Sword and Sorery, Sword and Sandal, Sci-Fi and to adjust each of those to your preferences.

The PDF is crazy cheap and brings so much bang for a low buck, it is probably the best deal you will have on an RPG.

First read of the book can seem a bit crunchy, but playing it will show how very well it flows. Getting Mythras Imperative first, running one or two adventures and then graduating to the full rule-set is a great way to do it, even if Imperative does not change much from the core book rules. It is just the trim-unfattened rule-set.

From over 30 years of playing RPG, this is my preferred system. By far.

Buy it. Play it. You will receive more than you bargained for.

A great iteration of the Gumshoe system. Along with Bookhounds of London and Cthulhu Confidential this is one of my favorite books utilizing that system. The occupations are very interesting and very thematic to the setting as are the Drives. The game includes everything you need to start playing pretty quickly including really good chapters on constructing scenarios and campaigns as well as lots of information about the Edwardian setting. Very readable and an excellent entry point into Gumshoe investigative games.

Moving first steps into Mythras - after years and years of AD&D, Pathfinder, D&D 5e - and I'm really excited! A set of rules that brings back roleplaying and the role of the master as storyteller, opposed to those rules-driven systems that turn an RPG into a boardgame where power-players can tell the master "no, you can't do that because..." I'm also intrigued by the bronze-age setting, as well Mythic Babylon and Mythic Rome ones. It seems to me that there are few ready adventures and campaigns but this is another motivation to write stories for my players.

I've been meaning to review this Mythras scenario since I ran I more than a year ago, but somehow, I'm only now getting around to it ... full disclosure: I'm working on a few small, Mythras-related projects with its author Matt Eager, but that's actually only because I've reached out to him after reading and playing the scenario.

I'm not going into details here, but still,

SPOILERS AHEAD

Hessaret's Treasure bills itself a fantasy spaghetti western, but since I'm not that studied in that genre, that didn't tell me much. The core idea is that the characters have to navigate two factions of shady NPCs who both hate and need each other to hunt for the eponymous treasure. As such, I would call the adventure story-focused, not in terms of being a railroad, but in the literal sense of it being focused on the dramatic story elements it brings to the table - the goals of and relationships between the NPCs, how they might interact with the goals of the PCs, and how they might form relationships with them. Both sides need the PCs as go-betweens to keep the other side from just trying to kill them off.

That's the core of it; and consequently, while running the scenario, I mostly referenced the extensive NPC descriptions in the back - that's where the meat of it is. You get four major players here, two on each side, and they're all multi-layered, with strong passions about their friends and foes. I found it easy to find their proper voices in play, because the ground-work laid by the text is rock-solid. The characters could believably side with any or none of them - my players gravitated towards each one of them in turn over the course of the adventure, only to doubt later whether their trust was misplaced.

Don't let yourself be fooled by the adventure being structured in scenes: Especially in the beginning, Hessaret's Treausure reads like it very much wants the characters to follow a particular order of events with a pre-determined outcome. Partly this is to get them into the tight spot between the two rivaling factions - but there's plenty of other possibilities for this to come about, and frankly, even if this central conceit doesn't work out as planned - like the characters getting what they need to go treausure-hunting on their own, or the characters clearly siding with one faction -, the adventure offers all the material you need to just keep playing. Part of Hessaret's Treasure might look like a railroad, but the material is really so encompassing and well-organzied, and it all makes so much sense - which is not at all a given in story-focused scenarios, where twists and turns are often deployed quite unmotivated and at the whim of the author - that, at no point, it would be a problem to go off the rails.

That being said, the central conceit is pretty cool, and it is well worth the effort to get your players to buy into it. As a GM, you'll have to be ready for some intense PC/NPC interaction. With a larger group of PCs, I can imagine that it might be a bit overwhelming to keep track of that - luckily, I ran this scenario with just two other players, which, to me, seems like the ideal number for Hessaret's Treasure. It not only made for intense role-playing, it also meant that the PCs really had to play their cards well to keep both factions at bay, since they wouldn't have been able to overwhelm any side on their own, and maybe not even with the help of the other faction.

Right now, I'm gearing up to revive my Mythras campaign with a sequel to Hessaret's Treasure - Arkannad is still out there and wants revenge, and by now, he has had time to not only catch up with the PCs, but also to get some back-up ...

This is really a great scenario - it's also a good read, but I recommend reminding yourself once in a while that things might go very different then suggested. The whole set-up is full of possibilities that can easily be explored with the material presented.

5 treacherous scoundrels out of 5